Features
Author: Lee Smith
One of Stephen Covey’s famous Seven Habits could well have been written with the internal communicator in mind: “seek first to understand, then to be understood”. It’s sage advice, but even today many organisations – and communicators – are guilty of ignoring it and of perpetuating an approach to communication that remains essentially top-down and one-way.
Every PR and communication undergraduate is familiar with the work of Grunig, who underlined the importance of two-way symmetrical communication more than a decade ago in the IABC’s landmark study, Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. The importance of feedback was, of course, identified by communication scholars long before that. So it’s surprising that so few organisations score highly when it comes listening.
The business case
The importance of listening is beyond doubt. Not only is it common sense – as the saying goes, we have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk – but there is a growing body of evidence that suggests it may be one of the most critical factors when it comes to unlocking engagement in the workplace. It’s also vital during times of change.
Of the 70 questions contained in the Sunday Times’ annual Best Companies to Work For survey, the one that relates most highly to an organisation’s overall ranking in the popular league table asks employees if they think senior managers do a lot of telling but not much listening.
In the 2006 survey, 66.5% of respondents said their leaders listen more than talk, up from 60.2% three years ago. Whilst the trend is positive, it appears that even amongst the very best employers in the UK, more than a third of all employees think their leaders talk more than listen. I imagine the results for the wider working population are far worse.
The Best Companies research also suggests that wellbeing is affected if employees feel they are talking to a brick wall. Psychology shows a strong link between an employee’s overall sense of control and how stressed they feel. Listening to employees and giving them a voice can increase that sense of control, reducing stress and, with it, employee absenteeism and turnover. Those are tangible communication benefits that convert into dollars and pounds.
We are facing a crisis of trust inside and outside organisations. According to Watson Wyatt, just 39% of employees trust their senior leaders. Trust, itself a vital ingredient for engagement, cannot be achieved without dialogue and dialogue, in turn, cannot be delivered without really listening to and involving employees.
And let’s not forget that listening is now a legal requirement in the UK and other parts of Europe under the EU’s Information and Consultation regulations. This legislation currently affects all organisations employing more than 150 people and will be extended to those employing more than 100 from next April.
So, how do you go about creating the listening organisation? What practical techniques can internal communicators adopt to listen to employees and what steps can they take to give colleagues a voice?
The listening communicator
The starting point is for internal communicators to approach their task as listeners themselves. For some that will require a major shift.
The first step is to treat communication as process, not product. Too many communicators remain stuck in SOS (sending stuff out) mode, operating as content providers and organisational postmen, rather than strategic business advisors. Tuning in to employee attitudes and opinions and becoming known as the reliable (and balanced) voice of the workforce is one sure-fire way to move up the communication food chain.
As we concentrate on getting close to senior management it’s easy to forget that our role involves balancing the needs of two ‘customers’ – our clients (internal or external) and our audiences. Communicators are unique in that respect – we are neither management mouthpiece nor workforce representative, but a hybrid of the two.
Internal communicators should know their various audiences inside-out – not just the demographic make-up of the workforce, but also what they’re thinking and feeling about various topics. To me that’s a fundamental aspect of our role and it’s key to being seen by senior leadership as a useful and trusted business partner.
If you want to practice internal communication strategically then your starting point has to be an appreciation of the current state – what employees are thinking, feeling or doing at present - and how those attitudes and behaviours need to change to deliver the organisation’s strategic goals. Without that knowledge you cannot set meaningful objectives, map out a course to achieve them or track progress. We all talk about the importance of research and evaluation, but the reality is that very few of us are doing it in a planned and sustained way.
The other major factor for me is face-to-face communication – undoubtedly the most immediate and effective way to listen to your people. It’s another subject we communicators talk about but sometimes choose to ignore as we retreat back to the familiar territory of producing newsletters, intranets and other ‘stuff’.
To become a listening organisation a strong face-to-face programme has to be at the heart of your communication strategy. That means developing line managers who are capable of facilitating great team meetings; it means making leaders visible and accessible, and it means creating regular opportunities for employees to have ‘face time’ with each other and with leaders. The style of these exchanges is, however, every bit as important as their existence.
Bottoms up!
As well as approaching the communication challenge from a listening perspective, there are a number of simple tactics you can deploy to ensure your communications are bottom-up as well as top down. Here are ten tried and tested techniques for boosting your organisational listening capabilities:
1. Create an employee forum
A number of organisations have set up employee forums in response to recent changes in legislation. Whilst some of these are simply ‘tick-box’ exercises, others have set out to deliver best practice solutions based on sound communication principles. One such organisation is Ernst & Young, the professional services firm. Its EY Voice forum, which comprises 15 elected employees representing key parts of the organisation, meets quarterly and acts as a key tool for listening to and involving the wider UK workforce of 8,000.
2. Bag a lunch
Sometimes the simple ideas are the best ones. The classic brown bag lunch has formed part of many communication programmes over the years and it’s still a great way to get employees talking to senior leaders. Whether you adopt an open door policy or invite specific people (I’ve seen one organisation use staff anniversaries as the criteria – mixing employees who have been around for 1, 5 and 10 years) participants often get huge value out of these sessions and as a result usually see their hosts in a very different light.
3. Get back to the floor
An ongoing programme of ‘back to the floor’ visits can make senior people more visible and accessible in the eyes of frontline workers and give them the human face they are so often lacking amongst those away from the corporate HQ. As well as the symbolic benefits, leaders who engage in such activities regularly return to their desks armed with ideas and knowledge that, until then, was lodged below a thick layer of ‘marzipan management’. It is important not to over-publicise such activities and to do it regularly, or else it can be perceived by cynics as more spin than substance.
4. Recruit champions
Many in house communication teams suffer from limited resources and are often based in head office, far away from the coal face. One way to address this problem is to develop a network of informal ‘communication champions’ to be your eyes and ears. It is important to invest sufficient time and effort into developing this group (training them in the basics of good internal communication is a must) and to be crystal clear about what their role is and isn’t. Coming together regularly is also vital – like organisations, champion networks often fail due to lack of dialogue.
5. Lean on line managers
Line managers represent the front line in the battle to become a listening organisation. They are, however, often the very people who are guilty of stifling dialogue and absorbing knowledge and information like a sponge, from above and below. Holding managers accountable for communication (make it part of their job description) and equipping them with the knowledge, tools and skills they need to communicate effectively is a key part of the internal communicator’s role.
6. Make your meetings more interactive
Many internal meetings and events remain dull and boring and all too often revolve around a Powerpoint-based ‘tell and sell’ session with, at best, a short Q&A session tagged on the end. Whilst it may take a leap of faith on the part of senior leaders, it’s vital that such interactions are built around the principles of involvement and discussion. There is no single right approach to this and what works in one organisation may not work in another, but try experimenting with a more creative and interactive style. One organisation I’ve been working with recently based an event for senior leaders on mask making! There is no doubt techniques like storytelling and appreciative inquiry can revolutionise the way groups talk.
7. Employee hotlines
Whether part of a formal whistle-blowing programme, or a more informal feedback channel, employee hotlines are another useful way to capture employee ideas, opinions and concerns, particularly amongst remote workers. Anonymity is vital and to reassure employees it’s always best for such channels to be operated by an independent third party. There are a number of services out there which will set up a dedicated telephone number for you, capture the feedback and send you a regular management report.
8. Get blogging
Although few European CEOs are currently blogging internally, a number US leaders are showing the way and demonstrating the effectiveness of this new medium as a listening channel. Intel’s Paul Otellini uses his intranet blog to engage directly with frontline employees who, he says, know their jobs far better than he does. Good blogs are the electronic equivalent of a conversation and can be used inside organisations to extend the reach of a busy CEO.
9. Install a diary room
When one UK retailer had to relocate staff to another part of the country recently, it used a Big Brother-style ‘diary room’ to capture employee views and ideas about the impending move. Next to face-to-face, video is arguably the most effective way to capture the thoughts and emotions of employees. The resulting content can then be packaged up to be streamed on the intranet or perhaps distributed on DVD.
10. Employee opinion and ‘pulse’ surveys
Thanks in part to the persistence of the big market research firms, most large organisations now undertake an employee survey at least once a year and some have gone as far as surveying their staff quarterly or even monthly. My own preference is for short and simple surveys to be undertaken regularly, rather than the occasional 50-page census. I’m a big fan of Gallup’s Q12 survey - it’s clear, simple and focuses on delivering actionable feedback. The litmus test of any survey is the actions and changes that flow from it – there is no point in listening if you are unwilling to act on what you hear.
From distribution to dialogue
Many internal communication teams still need to make the transition from being essentially distribution centres to becoming true facilitators of dialogue inside their organisations. A focus on listening is a critical to making that leap.
Engagement is a social process and, likewise, effective communication relies on conversation. It is two-way. It involves talking and listening. As the Best Companies research so clearly demonstrates, it pays to be a good listener.
What we are aiming for, ultimately, is the creation of a ‘conversation culture’ – a workplace that is built on two-way discussion, dialogue and a climate of trust and openness. By creating such an environment we will play our part in the quest for engagement and help unlock the enormous performance improvements it offers.
Copyright (c) Lee Smith, Gatehouse Consulting Limited. First published on Simply-Communicate.com, October 2006.
